Left Hand brews up Bard's Ale for the annual Colorado Shakespeare festival

Modern Brewery Age, July 5, 2004

The Left Hand Brewing Company of Longmont, CO, is again a product partner of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, for the tenth year in a row. The festival, which takes place on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder, Colorado, is considered one of the premier Shakespeare Festivals in the country.

As a sponsor, Left Hand Brewing Co. brews a special beer each year called "Bard's Ale."

"Bard's Ale is an English-style Mild Ale," said Left Hand president Eric Wallace. "It is softly brown in color with an enticing toasty malt aroma, hints of chocolate and toffee flavors, and a crisp hoppiness in the finish. Bard's is available only at the Shakespeare Fest before shows and during intermission, or at our brewery tasting room in Longmont at 1265 Boston Avenue."

This year's Shakespeare Fest will run from 2 July through 15 August. The three plays being performed are Antony and Cleopatra, The Comedy of Errors and Romeo and Juliet. The plays take place in the Mary Rippon Theater, an outdoor theater on the CU campus.

"The Bard's Ale was built to enhance an evening with the Bard under the stars in Boulder," Wallace said. "It has plenty of flavor to satisfy my thirst for a beer, but it's light enough to not cause me to doze off in the second act, since, as a brewer, I get up very early in the morning."

Wallace said the beer has drawn an enthusiastic following among consumers and thespians alike. "What a great bunch of people out there at Left Hand Brewing Company," said Richard Devin, producing artistic director for the Colorado Shakespeare. Fest. "They bring a similar passion to the brewing of their beer as do we in bringing the work of Shakespeare to the stage."